


the grace in your eyes

by charleybradburies



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: (briefly) - Freeform, Canon Rewrite, Community: femslashficlets, Episode Fix-It: s08e06 The Iron Throne, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash, Ficlet, Fix-It of Sorts, Guards, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Incest, Independent North (ASoIaF), King Bran Stark, Kings & Queens, Kissing, Knight Brienne of Tarth, Knights - Freeform, Past Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, Post-Canon Fix-It, Queen in the North, Queer Themes, Reunions, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Romance, Sansa Stark is Queen in the North, Season/Series 08, Sister-Sister Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23077189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleybradburies/pseuds/charleybradburies
Summary: Femslash Ficlets Challenge #33: Queen (#250: Remainder)+ Queer Women's Literature Prompt #6: "Stand and face me, my love, and scatter the grace in your eyes." - SapphoBran sends Brienne back to where she really belongs.
Relationships: Arya Stark & Brienne of Tarth, Arya Stark & Sansa Stark, Bran Stark & Brienne of Tarth, Bran Stark & Sansa Stark, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sansa Stark/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42
Collections: femslashficlets: queer women's literature quotes challenge





	the grace in your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy, kudos, and comment!

Not long after taking the southron throne, Bran sends her along with Arya - a path that somewhat surprisingly takes Brienne back North, the place she now belonged according to him. 

It doesn't escape her that Bran could see any and every point in history - that he could know all that had been said and done and shared. That when he remarks that she had sworn to Sansa once and renewed the vow some hundreds of times, he has some semblance of what that meant to Brienne, of precisely how she had sworn, of how her duty had morphed into so much more. That just as when he'd confirmed for his sister that Jon had met some of Daenerys' demands and desires, just as when he'd witnessed pieces of the truth of Jon's origins, he'd seen for himself how Brienne's role as a protector was so very different when the doors were closed.

And perhaps he had, but in keeping with his usual manner, he didn't say anything that would directly evince as much - so Brienne did not ask him for his reasons, and breathed more easily. Their journey itself is easy enough, and both Arya and Brienne busy themselves with work on the ship. 

They ride hard when they've made ground, and reach the keep at midday soon enough, ushered in happily by the guards but told to have their voices low. 

Arya sneaks off, but Brienne is still against the wall in the back of the room when her queen processes in, beautiful and breathtaking as ever. Her eyes are lonely, her expression as guarded as the armed men at the room's corners, direwolf sigils declaring them to be hers.

She thanks the carpenters, the stonemasons, the smiths, the nobles, the seamstresses. Brienne recognizes Lord Glover's voice among the first to call her queen, and watches the grateful looks Sansa gives every present and visible lord and lady as they clatter to stand, swords thrust in the air and firm voices joined together, a cohort of subjects Brienne is glad to join - as Sansa's expression becomes curiosity and then joy, and she stretches out a hand at her left. It's a few seconds before Arya is at her side, hand still on Needle's hilt when she stops at the edge of the throne; that hand finds a careful one placed gently atop it in greeting. 

The chanting dies down, no quicker than it had for Jon, and Arya says something that Brienne can tell is of consequence by the excitement that blooms in Sansa's face, a sight she's graced with even without being particularly close to that face. Sansa looks away from her sister, eyes scanning the crowd with purpose.

The path up the middle of the hall is easiest, and Brienne gives up on being even slightly inconspicuous in favor of making it to the front as swiftly as possible. With a kneel and another short promise of service sworn and accepted, Brienne is opposite Arya quite soon. Sansa's eyes have lit up, a smile spread and settled across her face, and Brienne would like little more than to feel that smile against her own, but Sansa is queen, the crown fitted ever so well upon her head, and all business now. There's much to discuss, and Maester Wolkan takes scrupulous notes of it all - all the questions she fields, the plans for rebuilding, for farming, gardening and food distribution, for free folk settlements.

They've barely finished with what amounts to a dozen pages of writing when it's time for Sansa to toast for their supper. She gives a gracious speech about the strength of the North, downs a fair amount of her wine, and declares to Arya and Maester Wolkan that there's private matters to discuss, gesturing for Brienne to follow towards the corridor.

The twinkle in her eyes leaves little room for confusion on Brienne's part, though there had not been doubt to begin with, but they're just barely well-behaved enough for a somewhat public environment, even when the knight is pulled into a nearby alcove and met with a needy kiss from her queen. They're not so abrupt as to meet with teeth, but their mouths are wet and their hands grasp tightly where they find some purchase at each other's sides.

"Bran thought you'd make it in time," Sansa murmurs eventually, twining the fingers of her right hand into those of Brienne's left.

"I am quite glad we did," Brienne responds, and dips downwards for a chaster, shorter kiss.

"Don't keep me waiting tonight, Ser Brienne. These winter nights have been too cold for lack of you." 

"I'd not dream of it, my queen."


End file.
